An Account of the Journey of a Young Maiden
by Pen Master Tanya
Summary: Writing to recall her days as a young wandering noblewoman, and what she encountered with a rag-tag group of adventurers.
1. Chapter 1

I have had a long life. I have experienced many things, both wonderful and horrific. But I am not writing to fill pages with fluttery words and prose about what I have seen and what I have done. I am writing to forever record what happened in those years when I was lost, when I roamed about. I am writing to the best of what I recall, as it is my failing memory that is leading me to put ink to paper.

I was born into aristocratic title and wealth. I was born Yuiko Yamamoto, a daughter of Lord Hiro, who was the Lord of the State of Yama, which was a state in the Mirage Isle. The Mirage Isle is not an especially big or small island, but it should be noted that it has five states, Yama being the only one which is landlocked. Yama is known as the breadbasket of the nation, for it's fertile farmlands that feed the rest of the nation. It was tightly controlled by my family, and our house was identified by our animal, the ferret.

I had a so-so childhood here. I was treated and brought up as a noble child should be, but shown no love or attention from any of my kin. Why should I have been? I was a daughter, thus I could not give glory to the family name, or be the next Lord of Yama. I mean not to bemoan my childhood, but state the plain truth, which I will try to do my best to do in my next words.

Eventually, at eighteen years old, I was engaged to Sir Len of Matsuhana State, the first son and heir of Matsuhana. This pleased my father to no end, as they were our next door neighbor to the west, and were a prominent ally to make. The engagement to Len was rescinded however, and he was engaged to another noble from another state, which I do not recall who that was. I was engaged now to Alec, the second son, and not the heir to Matsuhana. If this displeased my father, he never showed it to me, and everything went along as usual.

At twenty, instead of being married to Alec, he wrote me a letter, stating that he was sailing away to the Mainland, to find his fortune to free himself from being the second son, and thus just a mere noble in his Father's, and eventually Brother's court. He never asked for my permission to go , but I doubt my opinion would have mattered much in the first place. He was a nice enough young man though, very clean and fresh looking, with a pleasant disposition and pink lips. We had only met in person one time. He went on to sail, and promised to write to me when he set foot on land.

Around this time, my father was conspiring to begin mining in the mountains of my land. They were seen as worthless and without value for so long, but someone discovered some valuable property from them. I became worried at the destruction of our land, and have thought of myself always being close to nature. Razing them would pollute the environment, and the people as well. So on the night of a feast in celebration of this discovery, I destroyed the maps pointing out the locations of where they would mine at. Without these, they would not know where to go, and this would prevent them from mining the wonderfully untouched mounds that have always enchanted me. I burned them all to a crisp, but was caught in the act by a palace guard.

If you thought my father would have sympathy for his daughter, you were incorrect. I was put-no, _thrown_ into the dungeon, and beat upon for several days by the guards, who took other liberties with me that I refuse to mention in these pages. I eventually was brought before my father and the court, beaten and bloodied, to be given my sentence. He explained to me that he originally wanted to execute me, but that my younger brother, the heir, Matsu, interceded on my behalf, and asked that I be given leniency. My father said he would, and proceeded to banish from the realm of Yama, ordering guards to set me at the border point.

The border point they set me at had two states bordering it, one being Nagoyama, and the other being Minnow Valley. They told me if I did not pick one state to set foot in in ten seconds, they would slit my throat and dump my body into the ocean. I ran into Nagoyama, and did not look back.

I spent some time in there, working as a common maid, and fleeing when they discovered my identity. While hiding in the woods, I met an injured druid, whom I attempted to nurse to health, and who taught me the Druidic Arts. She said I had a natural affinity for the Druidic spells, and I took to it quickly. She sadly died, but knowing what she taught me, I felt less afraid of the world.

With the money from my maid days, some coins from the Druid, and the pittance the guards gave me before they cut me loose, I headed to Minnow Valley, which is renowned as a beautiful and exotic port city. It has the best shores in the Island, and thus is the preferred one for most ships. I made up my mind to leave the Island, wanting to shed my past and wanting to perhaps meet up with my fiancée, Alec. I'm still not sure of my reasons to leaving to this day, but no matter on musing why. I set to work on leaving.

I rented a room in a pleasant, two story clapboard house in a district called "Lace Corner" in the capitol, Spice Crossing. It was a brothel, but I was _not_ a courtesan. Let me make that clear. I worked at an elixir shop, that advertised to the upper class, and sold our wares that ranged from wart removal, to a potion that made one "sweat the fat out". I had a lovely time there, but I still wanted to leave to set sail to the mainland's. I saved up enough coins, and bought passage onto a merchant vessel. It would take me a month to set sail to the mainland.

 _Chapter One_

Obviously, I made it onto the mainland, and instead of boring you with what happened immediate after I arrived, I will start from what happened at the tavern in Valen. I sat there, at a table, sipping on my hot ale and enjoying a yummy, sticky bun. At the table sat a dwarf and a human man. I did not know them at the time, I simply was sitting at the table as there was no other place to sit.

Suddenly, the door to the tavern burst open. A figure, tall and cloaked, looked around, then to my table and rushed to it. She sat down in a huff and said to us , "Pretend you know me, pretend I'm drunk or something!". She then promptly put her head down, cloak covering all.

After this, three men came rushing into the tavern. They looked dangerous, with large swords hanging from their belts, and a kind of dark look in their eyes. They made their way into the tavern, stopping to accost someone at a table or so. They made their way to my table eventually.

The leader, a bald man said to my table , " Have any of you seen a woman come by in here? Tall, scarred, armed?"

"Mmm no, just me and my buddy here sipping our brew", said the dwarf, whom I would later find out was named Desmond.

"Yeah that's right, haven't seen anyone matching that description!", chimed his friend, who's name was Kyle. Yes that's right, his name was KYLE. What an odd name.

The bald man narrowed his eyes to the cloaked figure. "Oh yeah? Who's this", he said, pointing to the woman.

"That's my maid. She's having a rest after carrying my luggage," I replied, making sure to act as demurely as a noble lady would.

After some more exchange, they eventually left to my great relief, and the woman began to speak to all of us.

She said her name was Lydia, she was on the run from a criminal group known as the Sikage, and thanked us for hiding her. It was quite late in the evening at this point, and we all elect to stay in rooms above the tavern, each pair sharing a room.

My memory begins to get a bit hazy at this point, but this chance meeting became the inception of us joining together. In this town, we took upon a quest from the local commander, Rhogoldorn, or whom I affectionately referred to as "Rhogl McDougal". He was quite a handsome man, with graying hair, sharp insightful eyes, a muscular physique, etc…

I should note I was quite the wild girl in these days. Oh, I'm not particularly ashamed of how I behaved. Yes, I had a fiancée, but I was _young_ and on my own for the first time in my life! Does one not expect me to have fun? I should also note that despite my best efforts, I did not have an affair with Rhogl. He rebuffed me.

Anyway, the quest composed of investigating possible cult activity outside of the town. Rhogl sent some of his men out to investigate before, but they had not returned for some days time. He gave us each a horse, and a cloak with the guard insignia, and set us forth.

After some traveling, I sensed a dark and forbidding energy around us, and told the group that this is the are we were looking for. I used my powers to speak to an animal, and had a conversation with an adorable squirrel, whom informed us of danger and death lurking nearby. We crept farther into the forest, and spotted the entrance of a crypt. After some discussion, Kyle piqued that we should _lunge a spear into one of the cultists to bring him back to Rhogl._ Rhogl did not want us to stop the cultists per say, but bring back some information for him. A captive would have sufficed quite nicely.

After tying some rope to the spear, Kyle lunged it at one of the cultists. It landed in the thigh of one, and we all pulled him towards us, to the horror of the other cultists who scattered away. When we pulled the cultists towards us, Desmond incapacitated him with a club to the head, and off we went back into town. It took some time of course, and I made sure that he didn't bleed to death (we left the spear in him).

We head into town, and met with Rhogl, presenting him with the captive cultist. While we begin the interrogation in the dungeon area, I try to use my feminine wiles on him, and get promptly hog-tied by Lydia and Desmond, and placed into a cell. I'm not proud to admit that happened, but I want tell the whole truth.

During the interrogation, we found out that the cultists were doing human sacrifice in an attempt to call upon the greatest evil there was.

Outside the dungeons, Rhogl offered a reward if we saw an end to the cultists, and we accepted. It was late night by this time, so we all elected to retire to a tavern for the evening. Still wearing the guard cloaks, that entitled us to free service at the tavern. Desmond and Kyle were sure to make the most of this, of course. Lydia also partook, and had a drinking contest with Desmond. I also decided to have fun in the evening, and struck up a conversation with a beautiful, young poet. He had a face that filled my eyes, and such a lusty look as well. We promptly retired to my room, and began an encounter that I had high hopes for it to mark a turning point in my love life…

It lasted thirty seconds. I kicked him out of bed, and went downstairs and brooded over some ale. And another ale. And then another…and another…

I woke up in bed with Lydia beside me, arm thrown over my body. Lydia was a large woman, by no means fat, but very strong and tall. It took some time to get out of her vise like grip. When I did, I washed up a bit, and put on some fresh clothes and set to waking up everyone. After several knocks to the door of Desmond and Kyle's room, then some ogre and human woman running out ( I counted eight in total), we all went down to eat breakfast then prepare to head out to face the cultists.

We returned to the spot we saw last time, except no guards milling about and the doors to the crypt tomb were wide open. We approached cautiously and saw that they were trying to do _something_ to a human man, who laid dead on a concrete table outside the crypt. Poor fellow. We ventured warily into the tomb. We came upon a library, where Desmond found a book talking about a man named Galonodel (more on that later) and after some trials and near death experiences, made our way into a room, and discovered a man-no, more like a Skelton, seated on a throne, clutching a sword.

As Desmond explained, this Skelton had to be Galonodel, whom he read about in the book on the way here. Galonodel was a mortal man from ages ago, who lived in a country at war, which it was certain to loose. Desperate to prevent this from happening, he made some sort of pact with a demonic force, and was granted a sword that had the power to crush armies, which it did. Eventually he went mad, and disappeared from view, and was thought dead. "Thought" being the key word here.

 _I suppose he was dead in a way. "He is centuries old at this point, all that is keeping him alive is the sword,"_ Desmond quipped, preparing to draw out his weapon.

Desmond gave one quivering look at the Galonodel, and crept forward, stopping when he reached him. He attempted to take the sword, but leapt back when the Skelton began to move! He retreated back to where we all stood, prepared to strike at him any moment.

Four coffins, two at each opposite wall opened, and out came a Skelton from each, with a variety of weapons including a mace and ball and a long sword. We all fought, and barley won, winning because of Kyle. I was injured in this battle by the Skelton cronies, and worn out by all the spells I had been casting.

As we all made our way out the crypt, Desmond, the kleptomaniac dwarf, took a relic (chalice I believe) from the crypt. Why, I don't know. We also ended up taking the sword with us too, which had a name. _Malice._ Perfect.

Before saddling up onto the horses, Desmond wrapped up Malice in his old cloak, and gave specific instructions for not one of us to touch it. Desmond was a cleric, so perhaps he would be stronger against the sword. Kyle noted that he felt that the sword was specifically talking to _him_ , trying to get him to hold the sword. Desmond reiterated his earlier statement, and off we went, back into Valen.

Arriving at the Guard Grounds, Lydia spotted the leader of the Sikage. Fortunately he did not spot her, and we made a plan to meet back with her outside the town gate. We decided to collect the gold for payment of the job, and head out of town as quickly as possible.

We had to wait a bit to speak to Rhogl, as he was speaking to the Leader of the Sikage. After the Leader left, Rhogl took us aside and explained the situation. As I can roughly recall, he said that the Sikage had taken over the town, and it was best if we would leave as soon as possible. We would be paid accordingly of course, but he also had a favor to ask of us. He wanted us to take along his grandson, Johnny, on our travels, and train him to stand on his own two feet.

I said before that Rhogl was such a sliver fox, yes? Anyway, we went outside to meet Johnny, a lad of about sixteen or so. Fresh faced, pink cheeks, with slightly curling hair, he looked like such a love. He was armed with a wooden sword and shield. His grandfather took him aside, and said that he had a mission for him, and etc. He didn't want to tell Johnny that he was sending him away for fear of the Sikage.

After making sure Johnny was packed up, we set to meet Lydia, with Johnny riding behind me on my horse. We met up with Lydia, and set off as soon as possible, hoping to not run into the Sikage again.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

After leaving Valen with Rhogldorn's grandson, Johnny, in tow, we set off to another town to rest for the evening and gather some supplies. The evil sword that Desmond had taken from Galonodel, Malice, was beginning to speak to Kyle even more than it had already been. Worried, we made a plan to encase the sword in a box of metal, so that it was completely inaccessible from _anyone_ until perhaps we found a sorcerer to disenchant it. We did not want to bury or dump it somewhere, for fear that a person could find it and be polluted as Galonodel was.

Johnny was a dear fellow, so kind and innocent. After battling some creatures, I think they were Orcs, we camped out for the evening. Johnny the dear he was cooked some breakfast for us all, and we set off into the next town.

It was not as nice as Valen, but there were some shops. We first stopped to rest at a river, and have a small picnic. I sat under a tree, and set to work mending and washing our clothes. Desmond, Lydia, and Kyle went to work training Johnny on how to use a real sword. When we battled the Orcs previously, we took one of their swords and gave it to Johnny.

After that, the men went to a blacksmith to negotiate the expense to encase the sword Malice, and I persuaded Lydia to come shopping with me. I needed a new dress, as the two sets of clothing and my cloaks were beginning to look faded.

We quickly came to a quaint little shop in the middle of the town, and after exchanging pleasantries with the shopkeeper, I went to business.

"I need a new dress. Something light and airy, but of durable material. I need to be able to move around in it."

He furrowed his brow, then shook his head silently. "I have just the thing. One moment".

He went into the back, and came back with a simple dress, of red cloth and a springy plant pattern on it. It fit me like a dream, and I bought it. I also convinced Lydia to let me buy her a dress, although she didn't seem like the type.

We all reconvened at a tavern, and the men told us that the blacksmith was working on a chest of metal to encase Malice. I told them about our outing, and we all sat to eat some good hearty food and strong ale. As I said already, this town was not as nice as Valen, and this reflected on the people as well. They all seemed so-so, and the majority were probably farmers. I set my eye on one farmer in the tavern, who was average looking, but at the very least around my age. I pinched my cheeks to bring some color into them, and sashayed over to him.

When I got to him, before I could even say a word, I farted. He left, disgusted.

I slunk back to the table, having the mind to spend the evening nursing my ale, when a cloaked figure entered the tavern. The figure appeared to be scanning the room, looking for someone in particular. We were all worried that it could be an agent for the Sikage, so we elected to send me to survey who this hooded figure was. I sashayed over, with the mind of using my feminine wiles to distract whoever this figure was.

As I stepped forward, the figure dropped the hood, and revealed itself to be an elf woman. A beautiful elf woman, with long flaming red hair. Of course, when the men (Desmond and Kyle) they ran up to her, tongues wagging. She smiled brightly, then pulled out a knife and attempted to stab me! We all disarmed her, and brought her to a tavern room upstairs, and tied her to a chair to interrogate her.

I'm not going to regale you with the details, but we were able to ascertain that she was called Vi Sovari, she was a member of the Sikage, and that she was here to kill us for shielding Lydia. That told us that the Sikage were looking for us, but did not have our exact whereabouts. I took certain _precautions_ to ensure that Vi would be incapacitated, but not dead, so we can throw the Sikage off our trail. This involved some of my special herbs (the group referred to is as _Wizard Weed_ ) and a horse we stole from the village. After she was good and unconscious, we placed her on the horse, and set it off to go into the opposite direction.

Not keen to take any chances on more Sikage coming after us, we hurried to the blacksmith, and awoke him. Desmond offered to pay him more to complete the chest at that very moment, and he agreed. We all assisted, and I used my magic to help expedite the process as fast as possible. It took about three hours, and as soon as we were able to, we set on the road once again.


End file.
